Turkey shuts down office of Talabani’s party, expels representative

ANKARA

Ankara has asked the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to close its office in Ankara and demand that its personnel leave Turkey, Bahruz Galali, the party’s representative to Ankara told the Hürriyet Daily News on Aug. 24 after he and his family arrived in Suleymaniyeh.

Galali, who has been in Turkey for 17 years, left Turkey while Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu was holding a meeting with Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Kubat Talabani and the PUK official Sadi Ahmad Pira late on Aug. 23 in Arbil.

Speaking to reporters in Suleymaniyah, Galali said there has been a “political crisis” which has nothing to do with the PUK. 

“It was their fault,” he said, accusing the Turkish government over the incident.

The incident was related to a security issue in Sulaymaniah regarding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK), Galali added, without giving further details.

“Such things have been experienced among states before. But many governments solve problems through diplomatic channels. Unfortunately, this time the Turks went straight for tough diplomacy,” he said.